Stroke survivors experience elevated levels of loneliness: a multi-year analysis of the National Survey for Wales

Abstract

AbstractDespite clinical observation that stroke survivors frequently experience loneliness, there is no large-scale empirical evidence to support this observation. To address this issue, we completed two pre-registered analyses of a nationally representative annual survey that included a self-report measure of loneliness (N>21000). Across two separate cohorts, the results consistently showed that human stroke survivors report higher levels of loneliness compared to healthy individuals, and this relationship could not be accounted for by demographic factors (e.g., age, sex) or objective measures of social isolation (e.g., marital status, number of household members). These findings demonstrate that elevated levels of loneliness post-stroke are robust in that they replicate in large nationally representative samples and cannot be reduced to objective measures of social isolation. The work has clinical and societal relevance by suggesting that loneliness post-stroke is unlikely to be adequately “treated” if only the quantity and not the quality of social experiences are considered.